1. After your plants have been installed the most important thing to do is water them.
Continue to water your plants once a week for about two to three weeks. This may vary, if the weather is hot and windy, then I suggest watering more often. If the plants have been installed in the early spring or late fall, the plants may not need as much water. The cool nights and damp mornings help to prevent water loss. A good procedure for checking to see if your plants have enough moisture is press your finger down near the stem or root ball and feel for adequate moisture. You may need to add some soil to cover hair roots and fill holes on the sides of the root ball. Do not build soil up around the trunk or stem of the plant, this may promote rot. If it is windy, water trees only enough to keep them from drying out. When the wind subsides carry out the above procedure. This will keep your trees straight so they will not be crooked.
2. Over watering kills more plants than anything else. Do not water your plants more than twice a week (except during very windy and hot conditions). If you have an irrigation system and use it frequently I would not suggest watering your plants at all. I do recommend watering well first thing in the spring.
3. I do not recommend fertilizing your plants for the first year. They need to rebuild roots before the canopy can grow. When you do fertilize I suggest using 1 cup of
10-10-10 time release around the root ball of the plant once a year only in the spring.
4. Most trees do not have to be staked since the root ball is so heavy. But should you feel the need to stake them please consult us first. If trees are staked, remove stakes after one year.
5. Pruning of your plants should only be done in the early spring to prevent disease and to allow the tree to heal up before there winter.
6. If you notice anything unusual about your plants contact us immediately. Most of the time it is something very simple that could save the plants life if there is a problem.
7. I hope you enjoy your plants and please let us know if you are not. They should bring you enjoyment for many years to come. Again thank you for your business.
Thank you,
Chad Erickson
Oasis Plantscapes

By Neal Holland, Sheyenne Gardens
Now that it is midsummer most of the planting should be done and now the routine care of the plants must be the next task. One of the misunderstood and poorly carried out details is watering of plants. Most of the recommendations for irrigating are devised for sandy, light soils and do not really apply to our heavy valley soils. We hear lots of tales of woe from people killing their plants with improper watering but thinking they are doing it right.
NEVER WATER EVERY DAY. Water only as needed. For newly planted trees and shrubs soak at planting time. I like to suggest watering once and half an hour later go back and rewater to get deep watering of the soil. It may not be necessary to water again for three to tens days depending upon the weather. Cool temperatures will extend the period between watering. Windy conditions will necessitate rewatering sooner. Dig down next to the plant about three inches into the soil. If it feels dry, give it some water if it feels moist or damp and the leaves are not wilted, leave it be. Wilted leaves can mean one of two things - either the plant is dry or too wet. These opposite conditions can produce the same symptoms. That is why sticking your fingers into the soil to check moisture levels becomes important. The root systems need air to function properly so a period of time between waterings is needed to prevent drowning of the plant by smothering the root system. More plants have been killed by overwatering than by lack of water.
Mulch can consist of wood, bark, rock, grass clippings and other materials. Often these are placed over plastic (heaven forbid this use), landscape fabric or even newspapers. When this is done, moisture does not evaporate from the soil surface. As result the plants often stay wet. The mulch must be pulled back away from the stems of the plants. This will allow some air into the soil. It also can mean that once the plants are established they may never need to be watered again except in prolonged periods of drought. It is normal for plants to make a flush of growth in the spring and this new growth reaches its full length by sometime in June. The rest of the season is spent in maturing (hardening off) this growth and storing food reserves for the next season's growth. In a normal year we often have a warm dry August. This is great since it encourages the growth on plants to harden and get ready for winter. I think many plants last summer failed to harden and as a result we had some extreme winter injury with even some normally very hardy plants like dogwood. This is a potential problem for yards with lawn irrigation systems. The attempt to keep the lawn green is just about opposite of what the woody plants should have. My suggestion is to cut the lawn at a higher level and curtail the frequency of watering. This way you can strike a happy medium benefiting both lawn and woody plants Also this is the time when the woody plants should be having reduced amounts of fertilizer so reduce the amount used for the lawn, delay its application or skip it entirely. Fertilizer applied to the lawn often finds its way to the root
Systems of the woody plants and they will pick some up. Trees and shrubs (especially evergreens) that go into the winter with high nitrogen fertility levels are more liable to have more winter burn or injury.